Teapot Cozy: No Math

Teapot Cozy

Keep Your Teapot Warm

No Pattern Needed

Quilters are made to believe they "need a pattern" for the most basic of things, but breaking out of that thinking is incredibly freeing. We don't need a set of numbers or directions for everything we want to do or make. The makers before us drew mainly on their own ingenuity, imagination, and make-do attitude. If you've never done worked with a pattern, I encourage you. There is a satisfying feeling of creating with your own ideas! 

If something doesn't go as planned, it may be reframed as a positive design element instead of a mistake in understanding poorly written pattern instructions. It stimulates your critical thinking, and creates a one-of-a-kind object. Whatever the outcome, it's a feel-good-thing, and we all need that now. Right?

Let's get creative!

Digital Quilting Design #2: Ogee Bulb

Oh, Gee, Ogees!

Take 2 on my digital quilting design work. I think this new pattern was a great way to elevate a one patch quilt design to a fun, new level. It gave it great texture while still keep it soft and cozy, and added a lot of visual interest, too.

One Patch Cross Baby Quilt

One Patch Cross Quilt

The one patch is my go-to method for creating anything quickly and accurately! I've found nothing to match the design potential with ease and speed of sewing. I spent more time selecting fabrics, cutting, and laying out this design than in quilt top construction. This baby-size top was sewn together in little more than an hour. A quick trip on my longarm with a medium, monster-y meander went quickly, and check out my 3 layer floating method with magnets to secure. (This time I meant to do it!)  Binding was cut from the leftover backing, and machine stitched. 

Stolen Moments for Stitch & Play

Vintage Log Cabin...Again

I am still plugging away at this quilt. I have to be in a special frame of mind to work for long periods, but I've determined to finish it this summer. A little bit each day brings good progress, and maybe I'll have it done before I've had it a whole year.

When my husband needed to do some work far out in the country, I grabbed my project gear, and off we went. Cell phone service is good in town, but once you get into the hills around here it's hit or miss--mostly miss. I was the safety in case there was an accident. Poor me! I had to just sit there and quilt.

Mermaid Baby One Patch Finish

Mermaid's Song

Song

Go and catch a falling star,

Get with child a mandrake root,

Tell me where all past years are,

Or who cleft the devil’s foot,

Teach me to hear mermaids singing,

Or to keep off envy’s stinging,

And find

What wind

Serves to advance an honest mind.

~John Donne, 1613

Check out the rest of the poem, and a brief analysis at Interesting Literature. If you've heard bits of this without knowing the rest, it will make much more sense.

Mermaid Baby One Patch Quilt

"Mermaids & Seahorses, Oh, My!"

Way back in January I ran a post called 27 Quilt Finishes in 2017. I spoke up for fewer commitments to free myself up. This has been good. I've really plowed through my Pile of Unloved Projects. I would say half are done. That gets a quiet little woohoo from me to myself. I'm staying on track with my goals. 

I also said, "Make what you love, and use what you have." So in the midst of pulling out fabric for my last class, Chain Piecing & Webbing, I happened upon this piece of mermaid fabric, and a bit of Mendocino seahorses. Not from the same designer or even stylized the same, but I still liked them together. Golly, I don't think any fabrics in this quilt came from the same company let alone designer, but the variety was interesting. 

Chain Piecing & Webbing Class Available

Trips Around the World

By the end of last week I had several quilts finished, and more pulled out to resume. There has been a good deal of pushing this year to finish up the old, but I've also dropped a few new projects into the line up when I could. I had The Sewing Group coming to the studio Monday for a class on my unique method of chain piecing to webbing to accurate block construction, and we were using the Trips Around the World quilt to learn the process. Many of these quilters had never made a TAtW so we had a lot of ground to cover in a short time. 

3 Baby Quilt Finishes

So Close to the End of this Love Affair

I adored this fabric when I first saw it so I bought enough. I purchased 1/2 to 1 yard of most fabrics in the line knowing there would be enough for twin baby quilts last summer. (Seriously, how well do you estimate yardage when you're not sure what you're doing with it?)

Comparing Methods for Trip Around the World Quilts

Scrappy Trips Around the World

I've made this quilt pattern more than any other. You might even say I have a thing for it. One patch quilts are very similar in design and creation, and I love finding new variations on both. 

Sweet Modern Baby One Patch

I was asked to make a baby quilt for a little girl soon to make her way into this world. I drove home with my fingers crossed to see if I had enough of my favorite fabrics still on the shelf, and this time I was in luck. These prints are whimsical, floral, and graphic all at the same time. I added a soft pink polka dot to keep it a little sweeter since this is for a new baby.

Twin Baby Girl Quilts

Twice as Nice

Oh, no, not twins for the same person, but my chance to do a second set of twin girl quilts this year! The first set was for 4 year olds, but this set is meant for soon-to-be's. While the first set was made-to-order and needed to be very close to identical, this set was a gift from Auntie Julie, and I could do whatever I wanted. I wanted them to be similar, but distinctly different.

Summer Besides Quilting

Feels Like a Summer Quilt to Me

Summer is full-blown here in Ohio, and it's hard to believe how fast the year is flying. People are moving in every direction along with in and out of the house, and I feel like a flight director. A friend asked me about making plans for a September retreat, and when I glared at her incredulously she reminded me it was a few months away. No! I just started cleaning up the gardens! I need more summer, but how?

One Patch Color Theory & Rainbows

 "Tutti Frutti"

The monthly sewing group gathers late this month so I've allowed the studio to fall into chaos before the big clean up midweek. Lots of digging through bins asking, "What's this, and why did I save it?" I delegated things into piles of Move On and Keep. That process led to stacks of fabric piled onto the table, and cut up into piles of 4" squares. 

I've Got This!

I feel a great relief at finally finding a method that works well for me. No more making lots of decisions every time I deal with scrap cutting. KISS: I get as many 4" scraps as possible from a piece of scrap fabric then turn the rest into strips of 3", 2.5", 2", or 1.5". I needed a cut and dried method, and settling on one I could be consistent with was a blessing. These measurements and combinations of are flexible enough to be used in most scrap patterns easily.

One Patch Layouts & Improv Charity Quilts

"In your Easter bonnet,
with all the frills upon it..."

Over several days last week I had a marathon of sorts. I had some donated fabric I really wanted to use up, and get out of my studio. It might not have been my pick of fabrics, but that's a little bit of the fun involved. Working outside your comfort zone is always a good challenge!

3 More One Patch Designs & Luminescence

Last Week's Layouts
 A First for Me: All Solids

Something that brings me great pleasure is working in the quilt room laying out comforters and quilts for charity. I've been very interested in different color schemes lately, and how colors interact with another. One color laid next to another will appear to change either lighter or darker. Maybe a dot or figure in it will be drawn out more. A good way to illustrate this is with the top and bottom layouts here.

Quilting Limbo:Finishes, Frolic & Free Thinking

It's been nearly one week since my last post. I've made 2 quilts from scratch, and finished 3 or more UFO's. 

Vintage Inspired Nine Patch Charity Quilt

Vintage Inspired Nine Patch

Laying out a one patch design such as this with 5" squares is greatly aided by knowing where the middle of the wall is, and working outward. (I will learn!) Instead, I tend to start with the left side working across through the middle. Don't laugh, but stooping down a lot is hard as we enter middle age, but so is climbing up and down the ladder this required. By the end, it filled the whole wall, and the top row had to lop over to stay put. I was up and down dozens of times before it was done.

This is a copy of a quilt I wrote about in "More One Patch Designs for Charity Quilts." I laid it out for a MCC comforter to be sewn by the many volunteers that work at the Connections Thrift Shop.

More One Patch Designs for Charity Quilts

Queen's Cross

I never board an airplane without my trusty composition books, and sharp pencils. While dear husband snoozes away, I dream up quilt patterns. Lately it's been all one patch designs, and this the most recent. 

*Yoohoo! And to alert you all how to find these designs, check out the new areas of Pink Doxies' header. I've been adding quilts and clickable links to each, and some new sections such as Charity Quilt Layouts and Links on the lower right end. 

Quilt Designs: Fabs, Failures & Why

The Best of Three
Navy Nine Patch

Most people will tell you there is no such thing as an ugly quilt. Let me bite my lip and rephrase it. (Let's be honest. We know this down deep.) There is something redeeming in every quilt made, but not all quilts 'work.' Most of the time we feel it when we're putting things together, but we know it when it's assembled. A color, a pattern, a border width, etc., just don't make the cut. We have a couple of choices. Rip it out and fix it if it's valuable, or live with it and learn. I chose the second option this week.

The Joy of a Quilt Room Volunteer

The Quilting Room at the
Connections Thrift Store In Kidron, Ohio

I travel about an hour each way to volunteer at a MCC thrift store and quilt room. It's such a pleasant drive because this is what I'm thinking about. A bright, sunny room full of quilts, comforters, fabric, and the nicest people. Who wouldn't want to be here? I feel so lucky!